


The Southern Isles royal family: Behind the scenes of Medieval Disneyworld’s most powerful kingdom

by barbara_princess_of_delphi



Series: Unique and Unusual Frozen Prompts/Headcanons: The Collection (non-AU) [1]
Category: Frozen (2013), How to Train Your Dragon (2010), Settlers of Catan (Board Game), Shrek Series, Tangled (2010)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-26
Updated: 2014-07-08
Packaged: 2018-01-13 20:13:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1239346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barbara_princess_of_delphi/pseuds/barbara_princess_of_delphi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thanks to "Frozen" we know a great deal about Arendelle and its small royal family.</p><p>But what about the much larger Kingdom of the Southern Isles?</p><p>Hans had 12 older brothers. Who are they? What kind of family did Hans come from? Read this story if you want all the answers.</p><p>One old king. Thirteen sons. Three daughters. This is the story of the Southern Isles.</p><p>UPDATE: Bonus Feature - Chapter 2: The Duke of Weselton - Nemesis of the Southern Isles</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

This story is about Hans's many siblings, the princes (and princesses) of the Southern Isles. But to understand them, we must first understand their father, the King: What was it that drove him to have so many children?

 **King Johann IV of the Southern Isles** was the fourth of four brothers and never expected to be king of the region’s most populated and most powerful kingdom. Growing up against the backdrop of a great war over the newly discovered, resource-rich island of Catan, he has seen the Southern Isles’ fortunes wane, their old ways of conquest unsuited to the changing times. His father and three older brothers were all killed in battle over 20 years of warfare as the once-great Kingdom of the Southern Isles fought to maintain its regional superpower status against an alliance of aggrieved city-states led by the Duchy of Weselton. This profoundly impacted Johann, and as a monarch, he is unusually progressive and idealistic for his time.

Johann took the throne at the age of 25 after two older brothers were killed in battle in quick succession, leaving behind his wife and toddler son to lead the last-ditch fight for his kingdom’s survival. For two harrowing years Johann was the only adult survivor of his royal line, and that line was almost extinguished on multiple occasions. His throne and life were saved by the allegiance of two older men to his family – two kings we know as the grandfathers of Elsa and Rapunzel, respectively. The two brothers-in-law saw something in the extraordinary young prince that others did not; as a result, Arendelle and Corona honored their alliances even as the Southern Isles’ other small allies deserted, hoping to share the spoils from the larger kingdom’s fall.

Today, 37 years after the great peace treaty, the Southern Isles are secure once more, but King Johann never forgot the loyalty of his father’s allies in those crucial moments that turned the tide of the war – or how close he came to death on multiple occasions.

Due to his paranoia about disasters killing off all his sons and ending his royal line, King Johann sought the help of a witch after the war ended, and used magic to boost his fertility and ensure that he would have many more sons than daughters. Unfortunately, as a side effect of the magic, Johann is widowed; his first wife died giving birth to triplets and his second wife died shortly after giving birth to Hans. The old king never remarried after that, finally feeling secure enough after having 13 sons and not a single major war in almost 4 decades. Today he is about 62 years of age and slowing down a bit, but still clear-minded and sharp as ever. He allows his crown prince to do most of the talking, rarely speaking up to propose a better idea. Like most idealistic princes, Johann has been disappointed at the slow pace of reform throughout his reign and accepts that it may be many generations before his vision of a peaceful and utopian Disneyworld is realized.

Johann had 16 children and 8 grandchildren at the time of “Frozen” (37 years after the great war upon which the “Settlers of Catan” board game is based).

**King Johann's Children**

**1\. Frederick,** age 43 – The eldest crown prince was just a toddler when his father was called away to take the throne and fight the Catan War. He was 5 when his father returned, but has had the most of his father’s attention since. Now, at the age of 43, he is effectively co-regent of the kingdom. Has one son, Haakon (age 20), with his wife Cinderella. Yes, the one with the glass slippers.

 **2\. Lars,** age 40 – Three years younger than Frederick, served in the army to learn military skills, now working as commander of the royal bodyguards. He is close to his elder brother and father and taught his nephew Haakon to fight for his own safety. Lars and his wife Ingrid have no children; Lars has allowed the rumor that he is impotent in order to cover the real truth – he is gay, and despite his father’s efforts, social attitudes change slowly. He confided in his father and two oldest brothers, who are supportive.

 **3\. Mikkel,** age 39 – Third child, currently serving as royal governor of South Catan (the Southern Isles-owned half of the resource-rich islands, gained from the last war). He is a capable administrator and has made South Catan one of the kingdom’s most prosperous provinces. Mikkel and his wife Beatrice (a second princess from a minor neutral kingdom) have three children.

 **4\. Johanna,** age 38 – Eldest of 3 daughters, fourth child overall. As a mother figure to many of her younger siblings, she has been instrumental in maintaining good relations between the children of the King’s first wife (her own mother) and second wife, showering all her siblings and half-siblings with love equally and making a point of countering her stepmother’s favoritism. Thus, despite having no children, she may be the most important person in the kingdom: she’s likely the reason her stepbrothers aren’t jealously scheming against her elder brothers for the throne. Many of them have come to confide in her. Over the years, she almost became an unofficial spymaster – even though the kingdom already has one, she knows as much as the official spymaster does about everything that goes on in the royal family and a lot of other things, too. She has refused to marry, and would be too independent for most men of her era anyways. At her father’s insistence, she is allowed a seat on the royal council, where she has the best ideas so frequently that the ministers have gradually accepted her participation. Still, there is a tacit understanding that if her three older princes die, the throne will go to the next brother, skipping over her. The entire royal family knows that Princess Johanna is more than qualified to rule, but that knowledge will have to be good enough for her, because their society isn’t ready for a spinster queen regnant yet. But as a progressively more senior royal advisor, out of the limelight, she can still do almost as much for her country as a monarch would.

The responsible, tactful, clever eldest sister still isn’t perfect. It was her idea to send Hans to Arendelle. She wanted to see the good in all those she loved, and regrets taking so long to notice what went on among some of her youngest siblings behind her back – especially how they treated Hans, the youngest. She’s tended to spoil him a little since, but could never give him what he most wanted – to be recognized as an equal by his brothers. Karl was originally going to be the one sent to Arendelle for their coronation, but Johanna thought Hans needed the experience more and got her father to switch the assignment. No one had any idea Arendelle’s royal sisters were that socially stunted and vulnerable. Or that there was terrible ice magic involved. Or that Hans would overreach like he did.

 **5\. Celeste,** age 36 – Second daughter, fifth child. It was after her birth – the second daughter in a row – that the King sought magical assistance to ensure more sons in his family, indirectly leading to the death of her mother giving birth to triplet boys less than two years later. In her childhood she was much more feminine and traditional than her older sister and seemed on a path to become the ‘true’ Princess of the Southern Isles, until she overheard that her father had wanted her to be a son rather than a daughter – and realized that if she had been a son, her father might not have undergone the magic spell that ultimately cost her mother’s life. The revelation shattered young Celeste’s world. Hurt and devastated, she made it her life’s mission to prove that a princess could be just as worthy as a prince. She resented her father for a number of years before coming to understand his personal reasons for doing what he did. The King, too, came to regret his excessive worries about having enough heirs, and reconciled with his daughter before she dressed as a man to enlist in the navy at age 18.

Shortly after enlisting, she fell in love with a commoner during shore leave, one of the new Catan settlers, and a few years later they had to marry in secret to maintain her false identity as a naval officer. Her husband agreed to be disqualified from the line of succession to the throne as a condition of their marriage, and largely raised their child at home (under the cover of working as Prince Mikkel’s secretary), while she rose through the ranks. Meanwhile, a year ago Celeste achieved the rank of first officer and was recommended for promotion to captain, which required the King’s approval. Wary of possible attempts to curry favor, the King checked to make sure the officers recommending his disguised daughter didn’t know who she really was before signing off on her commission. And then he congratulated the new captain in person, following standard procedure. “I would have been proud to call you my own son,” he says, and no one else in the room understands just how personal that compliment is, or how much it means to the new captain.

Today, Princess Celeste captains the newest 24-gun frigate in the South Catan squadron and hopes to eventually retire as an admiral. She still keeps her identity secret to avoid prejudicing her possible final promotion, but looks forward to the day she can reveal herself and shock her entire nation. But now that their child is almost grown, her husband wants to move in with his wife aboard their ship. This has started to cause some friction in their marriage. She feels that her career advancement will stall once her gender is known, and doesn’t want to choose between her career and marriage – but it might happen.

 **6-7-8. Henrik, Harald,** and **Halvor,** age 35 – triplets who are technically not identical, but as kids purposely maintained similar enough appearances that they might as well be, much to the consternation of the royal servants and tutors. They are the last children of King Johann’s first wife, who died from the difficult childbirth. Being without a mother has been difficult, but two older sisters have helped fill the gap, a little. 15-year-old Princess Johanna ended up being the one to give the 12-year-old triplets the “birds and bees” talk – which remains one of the funniest memories in all four of their lives to this day.

Though all three brothers were trained as potential crown princes, they understand that they ideally will not inherit, and have gone into the army together, to serve their country and perhaps protect their family. The three brothers fervently hope that the throne never comes to them, because they share everything and their greatest fear is that power will turn them against each other one day. If their older brothers are gone, they trust each other more than any of their younger brothers to look after the kingdom and continue their father’s benevolent policies. Yet, how can they possibly decide who among the three will be king? They’d much rather give Johanna the crown in such a scenario, but all four of them understand that their society is not yet ready to accept a spinster queen.

The three brothers and their families now live on Catan Island, where they rotate among military posts in the garrison. They take turns attending major palace events (royal balls, treaty celebrations, greeting ambassadors) back on the home islands, so one of them is always in position to defend their homes on Catan in case of emergency. They will neither confirm nor deny that they occasionally impersonate each other for the purpose of sharing their three wives amongst them.

 **9\. Anders,** age 32 – first child of King Johann’s second wife, ninth child overall and seventh prince; he was 9 when his mother died. Still unmarried at 32, currently vice-governor of South Catan under his (half-)brother Mikkel. Rumors of the dashing prince’s homosexuality are dismissed as an inevitable side-effect of his withdrawn and surly personality making it hard for him to charm the ladies. Princess Johanna alone knows that the rumors are actually true in his case. He meets his lovers in disguise, and so far, hasn’t been caught.

 **10\. Soren,** age 31 – a full-time diplomat representing the Southern Isles abroad. His oldest brothers were given similar diplomatic duties as part of their training to possibly take the throne. But unlike them, Soren knows that a prince and diplomat is the highest rank he will ever have, unless he may be lucky enough to woo a foreign princess. Unlike Hans, however, Soren is accepting of his fate and willing to make the best of what he’s been born into. He’s had a few marriage offers, none from princesses, but hasn’t liked any of the women enough to settle. He’s only 31, and being only the 8th out of 13 princes, he’s under no pressure to produce any heirs. The supply contract for block ice which he negotiated with Elsa’s father in Arendelle five years ago is still in effect today.

 **11-12. Georg** and **Ida,** age 29 – fraternal twin brother and sister who, lacking sufficient parental supervision and boundaries, have stumbled their way into a devastating secret: they love each other just a little too much (note: massive understatement). Once the most affectionate of siblings, they no longer do more than hold hands in public, because otherwise they just can’t control themselves. Fortunately, they’ve largely escaped scrutiny so far; Georg is unlikely to ever succeed to the throne and Ida’s foreign marriage proposals have been largely inconsequential, since most of the major kingdoms in the region are allied against the Southern Isles anyways and their princes don’t consider her for a marriage alliance. The incestuous couple briefly feared discovery at one point when Ida ended up pregnant and had to fake an illness and hide in her room for some months, but she miscarried, and they were able to find a very discreet doctor, who was led to believe Ida had an affair with a peasant. Georg serves as an on-demand royal diplomat like his older brother Soren, though he takes more interest in the business and trade negotiations and is really only pretending to search for a suitable wife. Ida is mostly left to her own devices and occasionally provides intel reports to both the kingdom spymaster and to her older sister Johanna.

 **13\. Peter,** age 28 – seemed a little feminine growing up, and is the one people most openly suspect of being gay; he isn’t and strongly resents the rumors. He’s planning to court a princess of a small regional kingdom and hopes that will finally shut people’s mouths about him.

 **14-15. Karl** and **Kristian,** age 26 – fraternal twin brothers who as kids tended to gang up on Hans, the only one younger than them (and the only one they could pick on). They were 3 when their mother died, and their father wasn’t really around to discipline them; no wonder they could get out of hand sometimes. Both strongly disinclined to military matters and preferring civil administration, the two brothers are being moved around various administrative and diplomatic jobs to keep them useful until they can find a good marriage. Karl is currently a constable on one of the smaller Southern Isles and Kristian is studying shipbuilding at the main naval dockyards. The third ship he helped to launch last year is actually the very ship Princess Celeste now captains, though he is not privy to the secret.

 **16\. Hans,** age 23 – the youngest child, 16th overall, 13th prince. His mother having died just days after his birth, he was essentially raised by his half-sister Johanna, and with so many other children around, she wasn’t always there to protect him. One day, 8-year-old Hans broke down and told Johanna what was going on; she threatened Karl and Kristian to stop – which they did, but they also retaliated against the “tattling” by pretending Hans didn’t exist for the next two years. Johanna encouraged Hans to ignore them back and wait for them to come around, and eventually both of them (around age 13) did apologize to their kid brother and try to reconcile. But still, Hans, Karl, and Kristian have all found themselves somewhat neglected by their older brothers, wishing to accomplish something and prove themselves. They had less to do than any of their older siblings, simply because so many older siblings took care of everything.

When Karl and Kristian came of age, they tried enlisting, but quickly found the military life was not for them. Hans, too, disliked the military. Subtlety was his strength, not overt confrontation.

So Hans decided to enter the Southern Isles spy service. As part of his secret agent training, he learned to fight with all weapons. But training only goes so far; a spy must also learn diplomacy, foreign customs and cultures, proper interaction with people of all ranks, and nothing can substitute for field experience.

Partway through his training, the allied kingdom of Arendelle held a coronation, sending invitations around the region. It seemed like an ideal first mission for Hans – a safe, low-stakes trip to observe an allied kingdom and greet its new monarch. He will go mainly to practice being a prince and maybe glean some intel on the side, but it’s not particularly sensitive; he’s mainly just there to show his face. At least, that’s how it was supposed to happen.

Clearly, things didn’t go according to plan.

 

**King Johann's Grandchildren:**

**1\. Haakon** , age 20 – Only child of Crown Prince Frederick and Princess Cinderella, but also close to his uncle Lars, who taught him sword and spear fighting while his father was busy with royal duties. Since he is expected to inherit the throne over his 12 uncles, it’s possible that a jealous uncle might someday try to make an issue out of his mother’s peasant ancestry (even though it has been known and accepted throughout the kingdom for the past 20 years). Haakon’s father, grandfather, and older uncles have done their best to protect him. They have agreed to a standing decree that if anything happens to Haakon, Lars will be presumed guilty unless proven innocent and disqualified from the throne; this way, Lars, who is best positioned to usurp Haakon, will have no incentive to do so. Of course, this means Mikkel is the one who would theoretically gain from Haakon's death, but since Mikkel lives away from the palace it is presumably more difficult for him to scheme and he would have to overcome Frederick and Lars. In any case, these safeguards are unlikely to be needed; the three oldest princes were lucky to be born while their father still had time and energy to raise them, and so were imbued with the idealism of putting their kingdom first; scheming for the throne is not in the kingdom's interest.

 **2\. Gunnar,** age 15 – son of Prince Mikkel and Princess Beatrice of [Insert-Kingdom-Here], being closely watched by his family because his ambition seems a little much for someone so young and just 15th in line for the throne. Still, he hasn’t done anything treacherous yet, and seems headed for a naval career.

 **3\. Yvonne** , age 12 – daughter of Prince Mikkel and Princess Beatrice of [Insert-Kingdom-Here], an ordinary princess growing up in the Catan governor’s house, who is just beginning to learn (from her history lessons) just how high of a price her people have paid for the settlement of Catan.

 **4\. Paul** , age 8 – son of Prince Mikkel and Princess Beatrice of [Insert-Kingdom-Here], a young boy enjoying the childhood his grandfather never had. He would like to see northern Catan someday; his father hopes that will soon be possible, as lingering tensions from the great war continue to dissipate.

 **5\. Erik** , age 16 – initially born as the son of Princess Celeste and Sir Simon Dahl, but has struggled with ‘his’ gender identity and wants to be female. Unfortunately, transgender issues and modern medicine just don’t exist in this era, so this would-be transwoman is stuck with her male body and the accompanying social expectations. She’s kept her secret from her father out of fear, but confided in her mother. Being skilled in acting the part of either a man or a woman (the former because she must, the latter by choice), she intends to join the spy service as soon as she is of age – it may be the only place in the world she can ever put her cross-dressing preferences to good use for the kingdom.

 **6\. John** , age 7 – son of Prince Henrik, starting to be able to help babysit his younger cousins. He has asked to learn how to shoot a crossbow, but is far from strong enough to properly use one.

 **7\. Sara** , age 3 – daughter of Prince Halvor, starting to say a few words.

 **8\. Ingrid** , age 1 – daughter of Prince Harald, currently the cutest member of the royal family.


	2. Bonus Feature: The Duke of Weselton: Nemesis of the Southern Isles

Bonus Feature: Konrad, Duke of Weselton – the nemesis of the Southern Isles

**Konrad, age 75** – the current Duke of Weselton. Though a military genius and creative mastermind in his youth, he is now ultra-conservative and exactly the opposite of the reformist King Johann IV of the Southern Isles. Konrad’s family, like so many other northern Baltic people, suffered from the heavy hand of Southern Isles hegemony. His father taught him how their world worked, but it never hit home for the boy until his mother was raped by a man whom the police dared not prosecute because he worked for an important Southern Isles person. The defeated look in the eyes of the Weselton policeman sparked something in young Konrad, who gave up his dream of being an architect to join the army instead – so that he could learn to fight and stop the humiliation of his people. His timing was perfect; just a few months after he enlisted, the great Catan War broke out, a coordinated uprising by the eight cities of the Christian League against the Southern Isles. 

The eight allied armies, with Konrad among the Weselton men, arrived on Catan, where in their third battle, Konrad’s officers were killed by a lucky shot from an enemy trebuchet. With confusion spreading through their ranks, Konrad quickly grabbed a dead officer’s jacket (with its rank insignia) and started shouting orders to rally the men. His initiative saved the day, preventing an early end to the war. Konrad’s tactical brilliance was soon recognized and earned him promotion after promotion.

The Southern Isles expeditionary force was reinforced with more and more men, but still could not break the allied hold on northern Catan. Decades without serious challenge had fostered a smug complacency throughout the Southern Isles military, and it took several months before the true urgency of the situation finally filtered up the ranks to reach the ears of King Johann III.

But the Southern Isles monarchy, once finally alerted to the true situation, responded as they customarily did – with massive force. The Isles’ entire standing army came to Catan on the entire Southern Isles armada, with King Johann III personally taking command. At Catan, he disembarked with half of his army, which together with the remnants of his Catan garrison, outnumbered the League’s eight armies combined. Crown Prince Hans – not to be confused with his more infamous nephew – led the other half of the Southern Isles army to Weselton, together with most of the fleet, hoping to break the alliance by forcing its leaders to surrender.

The news of Weselton’s surrender, along with the Duke’s orders recalling all Weselton forces from the alliance, arrived on Catan just as the allies were celebrating their biggest victory so far – they had just repelled King Johann’s first assault after three hard days of fighting. As the disappointed Weseltonian troops packed up for their return home, Konrad gathered his unit and told them the story of what he had seen eight years ago, hiding in his mother’s closet as the Southern Islander tax collector took more than he was legally entitled to. He praised his men for having done their duty and fought honorably for the past year; he, however, had not done his. His duty was a self-imposed one, and one which he was more likely to die trying than to actually fulfill.

Konrad’s time as a Weselton soldier was over – or so he thought at the time. Weselton could not afford to sacrifice her own survival in the pursuit of revenge; Konrad, however, could sacrifice himself – and he did.

Leaving his colonel’s rank insignia on the ground in front of his men, Konrad fled into the forest, allowing the men to choose for themselves. Several dozen of his regiment chose to follow him, accepting that their own country would be forced to outlaw them. And for the next twelve years Konrad waged a guerrilla campaign all over the island, his fame and legend growing with every daring escapade. Supply carts were sabotaged, cavalry horses poisoned, ships burned to the waterline, colonial officials’ severed heads appeared on pikes, entire infantry patrols disappeared without a trace. On three separate occasions when the rebels assassinated Southern Isles tax collectors sent from the home islands, the corpses were found with bloody letters carved across their bodies: “Mom, this one’s for you – K.” Within a few years, various cities began to covertly offer aid and deserters and civilians alike began turning up in increasing numbers to offer themselves as fighters or sympathizers. The Southern Isles had made many enemies, and every rebel victory brought more rebels out of the woodwork.

As the drain on the Southern Isles treasury increased, the kingdom was forced to demand more and more tribute from its subject states. The heavy-handed tactics that had worked in generations past now only fanned the flames. Random executions of Weseltonian civilians in reprisal for Konrad’s actions on Catan did nothing to protect the Southern Isles villages on the island, but instead inspired aggrieved Weseltonians to copy Konrad’s methods of resistance. Riots and disturbances became an increasingly frequent occurrence throughout the northern towns, even in those nominally friendly to the Isles. The core cities of the Christian League tacitly settled on a new strategy: the new goal was to bankrupt the Southern Isles, since they had already tried and failed with overt military opposition.

Konrad had now stalemated 25,000 enemy soldiers with fewer than 400 men of his own, while inspiring copycat rebel groups throughout the northern mainland to tie down even more Southern Isles occupation forces. None of the other groups, however, could match his success in raids. None had found a leader of Konrad’s skill or devotion to the cause, and the casualty rates of the mainland rebels were significantly higher than that of Konrad’s men on Catan Island. Still, with the constant disturbances all over their empire, King Johann’s ministers were barely able to keep enough money and supplies flowing to their armies…

Then, in the 12th year of the war, Konrad finally got his big break. For 12 years, the aging Duke of Weselton had cooperated with the Southern Isles occupation of his nation. But the 68-year-old Duke suffered a heart attack and was succeeded by his 42-year-old son, a more daring and headstrong man than his father.

At his coronation, the new Duke pledged his loyalty to the Southern Isles and instituted the harshest censorship regime in Weselton’s history. Under his father’s reign, only the more vocal or active dissenters were punished for their opposition, usually by public flogging or short imprisonments, and only when Southern Isles garrison leaders actively demanded their prosecution. But now anyone who spoke against the occupiers simply vanished – people naturally assumed the worst. 

But the young Duke was playing a dangerous double game. The “disappeared” dissidents were not being executed and dumped into the sea – but instead, were being exiled: smuggled to points just off the Catan Island coastline, then thrown overboard with a wink, a nudge, and three days’ rations, warned never to return to Weselton on pain of death. The vast majority of these men made it to shore and found their way into Konrad’s rebel force – and within just one year Konrad had gained more recruits than he had in the last ten.

The new Duke was not only more sympathetic to Konrad’s cause, but also had more faith in the young man’s ability to prevail against the odds – for he had witnessed Konrad’s military talents in his capacity as Prince of Weselton and Konrad’s fellow army officer 12 years ago, during their brief first year on Catan together. For this reason, even though he officially supported the Southern Isles, he secretly did much more to promote the rebellion than his father had.

The increase in rebel activity on Catan Island was soon noticed, and after several months of covert operations the Duke’s treachery was discovered. In the resulting outrage, King Johann III made a decisive strategic blunder. Rather than changing his strategy or recognizing his failures, he attempted to turn up the heat even further. His three elder sons did not question it, for that was how things had always been done in the Southern Isles – apply increasing force until you get your way. The youngest son, Prince Johann (later King Johann IV), expressed his doubts, but was overruled.

Johann III decided to destroy the Duchy of Weselton and massacre its entire population – an example to deter future opposition throughout the empire. So, over the course of three days, the armies of the Southern Isles rampaged through the city and then spread across the countryside, killing anyone in sight, carting off everything of value and burning the rest to ashes. The Duke and several hundred of his men sacrificed themselves in a heroic rearguard action which gave thousands of their people a few more hours to flee. Weselton’s last census three years prior counted a population of 125,000 throughout the duchy. In the first census after the end of the great war, there were fewer than 60,000.

News of the massacre spread along with the Weselton refugees and almost instantly triggered massive popular uprisings across the northern lands. The already stretched-thin Southern Isles occupation forces in all seven remaining cities of the Christian League were quickly overwhelmed, some fleeing while others found themselves besieged in the citadels of their cities, as the local gendarmeries turned against them and joined the revolting populations. The newly re-established League was shortly joined by most of the smaller cities in the area, including several that had remained neutral up to this point.

At this point slightly more than half of Konrad’s men were of Weseltonian origin, and the news of their hometown’s destruction was received with shock and disbelief. Konrad himself was unaccountably gleeful upon learning of the massacre, as he now finally had an opportunity to turn the tide of the war once and for all – his long-sought revenge against the Southerners was finally within sight! Only later that evening, after overhearing some of his Weseltonian men remembering their lost friends and family from back home, did Konrad realize with a jolt how much of his humanity the long quest for revenge had taken from him. Shaken by his realization, Konrad began to doubt his mission for the first time in 14 years, even as its prospects were looking brighter than ever.

The following morning Konrad assembled his senior commanders and asked them to join him in a new cause: re-founding the lost Duchy of Weselton. He was tired of destroying things and wanted to build something, instead. Konrad’s lieutenants, even the few non-Weseltonians, approved heartily of the idea. They had all been outlawed by the old Weselton government, but that no longer existed – so in their minds, they were now the only true Weseltonians left in the world.

Konrad’s men proposed that he should become their new Duke and bring his tactical skills to the mainland to take advantage of the new outpouring of sympathy for their cause. Konrad agreed, and three days later the rebels managed to sneak Konrad and a few handpicked men off the island during a series of diversionary attacks.

In disguise, Konrad reached the allied city of Aabo and officially claimed the vacant dukedom of Weselton, becoming a Duke without a country – for the moment. Survivors from the former land of Weselton and other opponents of the Southern Isles flocked to his banner. When King Johann III arrived with his army a few months later, Konrad confronted him outside the city with an army of his own – eight thousand new volunteers, about a thousand of whom were Weseltonian survivors of the massacre.

But the volunteers were a decoy: Konrad’s real army was in fact the one thousand professional soldiers, guards, gendarmes, and other such armed men hiding in the long grass of the battlefield, lent to him by the Aabo city council. As the Southerners charged at what appeared to be an untrained mob, spears popped out of the grass and impaled them in the middle of the field. Then hundreds of crossbowmen – the bulk of Aabo’s official military – popped up on both flanks of the Southerners. King Johann III was shot in the back as he fled from the rout of his army. And thus the legendary guerrilla rebel became a legendary general.

The Christian League proclaimed Konrad their commander-in-chief and successor to Weselton’s place on their council. Over the next six years, Konrad led the allies to a string of victories across the realm, shrinking the dominion of the Southern Isles to almost nothing and killing three Southern Isles princes in battle.

Following the death of King Havard I, who reigned for only three months after succeeding his older brother, the Kingdom of the Southern Isles consisted of only its original home islands and a single citadel on the southern end of Catan, besieged by the League’s forces.

So it was that the crumbling throne of the Southern Isles devolved upon the youngest of the four princes – 25-year-old Prince Johann, who became King Johann IV upon his brother’s death. On the very day of his coronation, the new king received word that four of his last six allies had switched sides, lacking faith in his ability to succeed where his brothers had failed.

The following morning, young Johann IV sat on the throne that still didn’t feel like his own, indeed was never supposed to be his own, and once again read the list of demands written to him by Konrad, Duke of Weselton, on behalf of the League. If he agreed, the Southern Isles would come to an end; he would abdicate, and the Isles would be split into individual colonies, each occupied by League forces until a sufficient indemnity had been extracted for the past 19 years of war.

The young king started to sign his acceptance – then hesitated. A messenger brought another letter that had arrived late.

The unmarked letter was addressed to Havard I (having been sent two weeks ago) from King Magnus VI of Arendelle, one of the last two cities on the Southern Isles side of the war. Magnus informed his ally that the Arendellians had just defeated a combined siege by the secondary forces of Christiana and Weselton and were now finally on their way to help the Southern Isles. King Magnus also believed that he was close to persuading his brother-in-law, Frederick IX of Corona, to risk committing his main army to help.

King Johann promptly emptied the palace, bringing all his guards with him. He summoned all available soldiers and gendarmes to his main harbor. In the dead of night, the young king and his last few thousand fighting men set out to save their homeland.

Konrad and his League commanders were aware that two armies were coming to break their siege on south Catan. King Magnus and his army landed on the northwest side of Catan. Konrad took his best men to confront them, leaving his less-skilled troops to fend off King Johann’s expected arrival. The Arendelle army at nearly full-strength represented a greater threat than the demoralized dregs of a once-proud Southern Isles military.

But during their days at sea, King Johann made his way from ship to ship, introducing himself to his men, gaining their trust, and sharing a vision that strongly appealed to his war-weary people. When Johann’s men arrived on Catan they were no longer the dispirited washed-up Southerners that the allied armies were expecting, but instead an inspired band of brothers who finally believed in their cause and knew themselves to be on the right side of history. Johann led the Southern Islanders on foot, charging through a hail of crossbow bolts to break through the allied lines.

Magnus had known Johann as a teenager and had an instinctive feeling of what the kid was capable of. Konrad, lacking that same knowledge, had underestimated his latest opponent.

Suddenly, the war was once again in the balance. On one occasion Konrad almost succeeded in defeating the combined forces of Johann and Magnus, only to be denied his victory by the timely arrival of King Frederick’s Coronan army on his flank. Another time, Konrad and his Weseltonian veterans managed to get within two sword-lengths of Johann himself, but the Arendellian royal guards held their ground and saved him. Konrad never fully understood his adversaries’ intense and seemingly unjustified loyalty to Johann, who was barely of age and the untested monarch of the region’s most hated kingdom. But after a year of fruitless stalemate Konrad admitted that he had met his match on the battlefield, and grudgingly agreed to sit for peace negotiations.

Each of the League’s cities had a representative at the treaty table, with Konrad speaking on behalf of the Weseltonians, a scattered people who hoped for the restoration of their homeland. Much to Konrad’s surprise, King Johann opened the negotiation with an immediate offer of massive reparations to Weselton, along with smaller amounts to other League cities which had been wronged prior to the main course of the war. Johann’s offer, to be paid over 30 years, was nearly what Konrad had intended to demand as his opening position. The rest of the negotiations went smoothly after that. The disputed territory, Catan and its island chain, were evenly split and Johann agreed to limits on the size of the Southern Isles military.

Thus, after two decades of adventures abroad, Konrad the carpenter’s son returned to Weselton an international hero and virtual founding father of his nation. A minority of the Weseltonian diaspora remained abroad, but the vast majority, over 50,000 people, returned to rebuild their homes. Konrad proved to be as talented a civil administrator as he was a military leader, and although the new Duchy of Weselton was far smaller than the old one, it was efficiently run and quickly prospered.

This also meant that the now 42-year-old Duke was the region’s most eligible bachelor. Initially the Duke was hesitant to marry, still fearing a potential resumption of hostilities as the Southern Isles continued to rebuild, but as years passed by the need to secure his new throne became pressing and King Johann showed no sign of reneging on the peace treaty. Eventually, at age 46, Konrad chose his duchess, a pretty princess from the kingdom of Malmo, and she bore him a son and a daughter.

The Duchess never made much progress in mellowing out her husband, but she proved to be a moderating influence on their son, the Prince of Weselton. The Duke made sure their son learned the military arts, but the Duchess taught him to appreciate the finer things in life.

Even in peacetime, raising children while running a nation takes its toll on a middle-aged man. A few years ago, Konrad and his family were invited to the royal wedding of Princess Rapunzel of Corona, widely known for her 17-year disappearance and dramatic return. Konrad declined, out of lingering paranoia from his war years – Corona is still allied with the Southern Isles, which Konrad still considers a likely enemy of his nation – and for the same reason, refused to allow his son to attend – he will not risk having his only heir vulnerable in enemy territory, even in peacetime. But Konrad’s wife and daughter were both eager to see Corona’s “Lost Princess” for themselves, and so they went.

While at the wedding, Konrad’s daughter found her first love – who unfortunately turned out to be a prince of the Southern Isles, the eighth son of King Johann IV. Unsurprisingly, Konrad was quite unhappy to learn of this, and absolutely refused to allow the courtship, despite much pleading by his daughter.

Duke Konrad retired to his room with a headache that night, and a few days later, decided that his son was ready to take on more responsibility in ruling the duchy. Interestingly enough, this was exactly what both the Duchess and the Prince had been telling him for the last two years.

Meanwhile, the young Princess of Weselton, always a classic good girl (and unlike a certain contemporary of hers, never needing to struggle with hiding any magic), obediently wrote to the eighth Prince of the Southern Isles to inform him of her father’s disapproval. He wrote back expressing his regret and understanding. In subsequent years, however, the two of them have frequently run into each other (by genuine accident) at gatherings throughout the region. After this happened a few times, the two young royals agreed to be “just friends” and have now struck up a frequent correspondence. As is typical of close friends, they often complain to each other about their various suitors – always being careful not to cross a certain line.

The Duke of Weselton has since handed most of the administration over to his son and now serves in a semi-retired advisory role. Where formerly the Prince did most of the traveling and diplomatic work of the duchy, while his father remained at home to govern, they have now reversed roles, and the Duke has come to enjoy seeing how the desolate and war-torn world of his youth now thrives with commerce. Of course, his always-active mind, even at age 75, is constantly coming up with new ways to bring more of that money back home to Weselton – and indeed his trade partners constantly marvel at how sharp he remains, seemingly undiminished from one year to the next.

The Duke of Weselton is still unaware of his daughter’s correspondence and if he ever finds out, it sure won’t be from either of the women in his family.

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve placed all Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, and similar animated medieval kingdoms in the same Middle-Earth-esque world. This includes Merida’s Scotland (“Brave”), Shrek’s Far Far Away, the Vikings in “How To Train Your Dragon”, Rapunzel’s Corona (“Tangled”), and whatever other Disney kingdoms have medieval settings. However, this story is focused on one particular kingdom, the Southern Isles. Don't worry, the others will show up if you move forwards or backwards in the history of this world. I just haven't written the history out that far yet.
> 
> I've arbitrarily set Elsa's coronation to the summer of 1417 AD but the technology shown in "Frozen" indicates anywhere from 1300s to 1600s would be plausible. Also, the geography and history of Europe in this "Disney-world" is altered compared to modern-day Earth, to make it easier to incorporate all the little kingdoms.


End file.
